Patch to Administer Vaccines

Using microscopic needles patches which administered as a vaccine that dissolve into the skin could simplify immunization programs by eliminating the use of hypodermic needles and the problems and risks associated with them. Micro-needles patches, easily applied to the skin, may allow self-administration of a vaccine for pandemic and simplify the vaccination campaigns on a large scale in developing countries.

The researchers responsible for developing the patch, Emory University and Georgia Tech, has completed a study on the patch and the benefits observed in mice immunization. Is considered that this is the first study to evaluate the benefits of immunization of soluble micro-needles.

The team of Mark Prausnitz (School of Chemical and Bio-molecular Engineering of this Institute) has shown that a soluble micro-needles patch can be vaccinated against influenza at least as well, and probably better than a traditional hypodermic needle.

With just 650 microns in length and assembled into an array of 100 pins for the mouse study, the soluble micro-needles penetrate the outer layers of the skin.

In the study, one group of mice received the flu vaccine being used for this traditional hypodermic needles injected into the muscle preparation. Another group received the vaccine through soluble micro-needles applied to the skin. The rats in the control group were applied patches containing micro-needles not vaccinated. When they were infected with influenza virus 30 days later, the two groups that received the vaccine remained healthy, while mice in the control group contracted the disease and died.

Three months after vaccination, the researchers exposed a different group of mice immunized by influenza virus and found that the immune systems of animals vaccinated with the micro-needles response seemed to have a "memory" better to the virus because they could eliminate your lungs more effectively than those who received the vaccine with needles.

Another advantage of these micro needles is that the vaccine used in them is in the form of dried preparation, which improves stability during storage and distribution.